The invention relates to a transport system for moving at least one automated maintenance device for large, essentially vertical surfaces, such as ship hulls, having a monorail system which can be laid freely and at least one drive device which can be moved along one direction of movement on the monorail system.
In many areas of technology, large surfaces, for example made of steel, have to be examined and machined. In particular, ship hulls must be protected against corrosion at regular intervals by removing old paints and applying new ones. Maintenance devices such as those described in EP 2 651 754 B1 of the applicant are used for this task. These maintenance devices are usually moved on rails along these hulls in the dock facilities where vessels are inspected and overhauled. Usually the rail systems are rigid, i.e. mounted on the dock in a form-fit manner or arranged within a track bed, so that the maintenance device has to compensate for differences in the distance between the rail system and the surface to be machined. However, since the size and/or shape of the vessels vary, and there is also an increasing distance between the maintenance device and the ship hull, particularly in the bow and stern areas of the vessel, the maintenance device in such rail systems must compensate for this distance in accordance with the prior art, which makes it extremely difficult to stabilize the maintenance device during operation. Such rail systems are therefore extremely inflexible.
The maintenance devices moved on rails usually have a high dead weight. Furthermore, due to their mostly crane- or tower-like construction during maintenance work, they always have a center of gravity that shifts towards the rails and is usually located at a great distance from the base. However, this causes a large moment of force to act on the rail system, so that there is always a risk of the rail being displaced or lifted off. This subsequently leads to instability of the maintenance device, especially if it is moved along the rail.
It is therefore the object of the invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art and to provide a transport system that allows a repeatedly precise and controlled movement of a load, for example a maintenance device, along a freely laid rail.